Chinese Taipei with shock upset over China

News Article

Photo: Dr Wee Thian YewChina at the Asia/Oceania WJT Final Qualifying

Day two at the World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania girls' Final Qualifying event in Kuching, Malaysia saw the biggest upset of the tournament so far as Chinese Taipei clinched a nail-biting deciding doubles rubber to take the tie against fourth seeds China.

Chun Fang Chang got the underdogs off to a flying start with a 62 64 win over China’s Zhou-Ma Ni-Ma, before Jia-Qi Ren replied in kind against Ya Yun Pai to level the tie. The deciding doubles went right down to the wire with the Chinese Taipei duo of Pai and Fang Hsien Qu sealing victory in the third set tie-break.

The result leaves Group C wide open going into the final day of the round robin stages. Only hosts Malaysia are out of contention for the quarterfinal stages, having suffered two 0-3 defeats, as participating teams bid to become one of four nations to progress through to the World Junior Tennis Finals in Prostejov on 5-10 August.

The other ties on the second day of the event went according to seeding with all seeds guaranteeing a place in the 1- 8 play-off. The seeds will all face-off in their respective groups in the remaining round robin matches for a chance to win the group stages.

Top seeds Australia continue to assert their dominance in Group A, with Destanee Aieva and Jaimee Fourlis steamrolling their Kazakhstani opponents in the singles before Seona Mendez teamed up with Aieva to post a 61 60 win in the dead doubles rubber. Australia will face fifth seeds Thailand tomorrow.

Second seeds Japan are leading Group B having enjoyed convincing 3-0 wins over both Singapore and Hong Kong. On Wednesday they will face seventh seeds Philippines who lie second in the group.

India and Korea have also enjoyed 3-0 wins on the first two days of play and will go head-to-head tomorrow for a chance to top Group D.